The present invention relates generally to ice making apparatus for marine vessels, and more particularly to apparatus which is capable of delivering ice to locations on the marine vessel spaced from the ice making apparatus.
Devices of the type to which the present invention relates can encounter difficulties with regard to reliability of operation since the ice must be driven through elongated delivery conduits to its ultimate destination. An auger or extruder mechanically drives the ice through a freezing chamber to an outlet from which the ice must be forced into and through the delivery conduits.
Ice leaving the extruder or auger must usually undergo a change in direction before it can pass to the outlet and through the delivery conduits. This can cause a problem because the ice may tend to accumulate before reaching the ice outlet thereby jamming the device and requiring shut down of the apparatus. Since the auger must continuously drive ice particles through the outlet, accumulation of ice particles can make continued operation of the auger impossible.
Usually, ice leaving the upper end of the auger has imparted thereto a vertically or axially directed force. However, before the ice can pass through the discharge opening it must undergo a change of direction of 90° or more thereby causing the ice to accumulate and jam the evaporator unit.
Furthermore, the need to deliver ice to remote locations can cause problems depending upon the distance through which the ice must travel since the auger alone may be unable to impart sufficient driving force for the ice to reach its ultimate destination.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide marine ice making apparatus involving an auger driven ice making assembly which can provide smoother operation and operate more reliably substantially reducing the tendency of the apparatus to jam.
A further object of the invention is to provide a split system wherein a refrigeration assembly for providing refrigeration fluid and an evaporator assembly which includes an auger rotating within a freezing chamber or the like may be installed separated from each other thereby allowing more flexibility in the installation of the apparatus whereby the evaporator unit may be placed closer to the ultimate destination of the ice units to reduce the distance between the evaporator unit and the ice delivery location.
An additional object of the invention is to provide means for fragmentizing the ice particles leaving the end of the auger in order to facilitate moving the ice units into and through the delivery conduits.
A still further object of the invention is to provide means in addition to the auger to impart an additional delivery force to the ice units directed more in line with the direction in which the ice units must travel as they exit the evaporator unit into the delivery conduits.